Thursday night storms less severe than expected, cause some damage across central Alabama

View full sizeStorm clouds are seen over the Cathedral of St. Paul on 3rd Avenue North in Birmingham Thursday, June 13, 2013. A line of storms moving through the Birmingham area brought ominous clouds, lightning and a little bit of rain to downtown. (Jon Reed/jreed@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A line of
storms that was expected to bring strong straight-line winds, hail and heavy
rain Thursday night mostly missed Birmingham but knocked down trees and power
lines and brought hail to parts of central Alabama.

The tail end
of that system moved south across Alabama Thursday night. The National Weather
Service in Birmingham had reports of trees and power lines down near Haleyville
in Marion and Winston counties, a tree down on Alabama Highway 269 in western
Jefferson County, and trees and power lines down in Randolph County in east
Alabama.